"I lived among the blacks for some time; but it was a weary life, and finding a trader homeward bound, I got on board, and at length reached Liverpool. I went to my father's house. Both he and my mother were alive, but I had great difficulty in persuading them of my identity. When they were convinced of it, they were ready to receive me like the Prodigal. But I had not repented. I was not fit to dwell with them. I felt like a wild beast among lambs. I had not an idea in common with them. When the novelty wore off, my evil habits came uppermost. I asked my father for money. He told me that he wished me to embrace some regular calling, and desired to know what I would choose. I laughed at the notion. He still declined giving me the sum I asked for, but I insisted that I must have it. My looks alarmed him, and at length he reluctantly gave it me. With it I set off for Liverpool, where I soon spent it. Then the first pang of remorse came across me. I thought of the calm quiet of that home for which I had so completely unfitted myself. I was meditating returning to it once more, and asking my father to explain his wishes, when, as I was sauntering along the quays, I encountered Myers. He was much disguised, but he knew me and stopped me. He told me that he was engaged in a scheme by which a rapid fortune was to be made; that he could not then unfold it; but that, if I would ship on board a vessel with him, he would explain it when we were at sea. My impulse was to refuse; but I was tired and weary, and consented to enter a tavern with him. He there plied me with liquor till all my scruples vanished, and I became once more his slave. "What occurred on board that vessel I cannot now tell; but you will probably know ere long. But the favour I have to ask of you is, that if I die, as I hope to do before our trial, you will find out my parents, and tell them, not all the truth, but how you encountered me on the point of death, and that I died repentant." I promised the unhappy young man that I would do as he desired, and, at his request, I took down the name and address of his parents. I have often since thought, as I recollected this story, that if parents did but consider the misery they were storing up for themselves and their children by neglecting the precepts of the wise King of Israel, they would, oftener than they do, search that book for counsel and advice, and would teach their children also to seek instruction from its copious pages. Oh! my young friends, remember that you cannot live well without some rule of conduct, any more than you can steer a ship across the ocean without a compass or knowledge of the stars. Then, let me urge you to take the best rule you can find; and where, let me ask, does there exist one comparable, in any way, to that found in the Proverbs of Solomon? If you would be truly wise, learn them by heart, and remember them always.